Method and apparatus for guiding material



March 2, 1937. A. B. MONTGOMERY METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GUIDING MATERIAL Filed Oct. 21, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR March 2, 1937. A, B, MONTGOMERY 2,072,1121

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GUIDING MATERIAL Filed Oct. 21, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z7 32 29 6 2a 30 29 7 gy M mi,

Patented Mar. 2, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GUIDING MATERIAL Application October 21, 1933, Serial No. 694,590

3 Claims.

My invention relates to the guiding of moving material and, particularly, to the guiding of material in sheet or plate form. A specific application of the invention is found in universal plate mills wherein a billet is passed back and forth through a single stand of horizontal rolls and between one or more stands of vertical rolls, to shape it into a fiat plate.

The guides used heretofore on universal plate mills have not been notably successful or effective in performing their intended function. These guides have not been capable of exerting a guiding action along the length of the metallic mass being rolled during movement thereof from its initial position at the beginning of any pass, toward the rolls. As a result, the billet or slab may move sidewise as it enters the horizontal rolls, and this causes the rolled plate to have a camber. The possibility of improper entry 30 of the material between the horizontal rolls makes it necessary for the operator of the mill to return the material toward the mill very slowly so as to guard against the contingency explained above. The operation of the mill is con- 25 sequently slowed down and the production rate reduced. In a particular instance, using guides which were available prior to my invention, it was impossible to finish plates 36" wide with less than .004 to .006" crown.

30 By my invention, the defects of guides as used heretofore on plate mills are largely overcome. A guiding action is exerted on the material continuously as it moves toward the mill and there is no possibility of improper entry thereof. As

35 a result, a more uniform product is turned out by the mill and, since it is no longer necessary for a high degree of care to be exercised in reentering material into the mill, the speed of the mill and its production rate are raised consider- 40 ably.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a pair of guides on each side of a universal mill. The guides extend longitudinally over the roll tables by which the material is fed through the 5 mill. The outer ends of the guides have pivotal supports. Means are provided for adjusting the position of said supports to accommodate different widths of material. The inner or mill 50 ends of the guides are also pivotally supported and are constructed to move with the adjacent vertical rolls, preferably by being secured to the housings thereof.

A detail description of the invention'will now 55 be given with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating a present preferred embodiment. In the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan view showing the invention as applied to a universal plate mill of conventional construction, the mill being shown dia- 5 grammatically;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the mill of Figure 1, showing the guides in position thereon;

Figure 3 is a sectional view along the line 10 IIIIII of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a sectional view along the line IVIV of Figure 1.

Referring in detail to the drawings, a conventional plate mill comprises horizontal rolls l5 l0, stands of vertical rolls H and I2 on opposite sides of the horizontal rolls, bottom guides l3 adjacent the pass between the horizontal rolls, and roll tables I5 and IS on opposite sides of the mill for passing material back and forth therethrough. The housings of the vertical rolls are indicated at I! and i8.

The guides of my invention are shown at l9 and 20. The two pairs of guides on opposite sides of the mill are identical and, therefore, only one of them will be -described in detail.

The housings I8 of the vertical rolls forming the stand I2 have brackets 2| secured thereto. Arms 22 are pivoted to the brackets 2| by bolts 23. Guide bars 24 are attached to the arms 22 by bolts 25. The guide bars have rolls 26 journaled in the inner face thereof at intervals along their length.

The roll table I6 is partially enclosedby housings 21. A screw shaft 28 is journaled in housings 21 with its axis parallel to those of the table rolls. The shaft 28 has oppositely threaded portions adjacent its ends. Eye bolts 29 are threaded on these portions of the shaft 28. A cover plate 30 extending above the shaft 28 is carried on the inverted heads of the eye-bolts.

The upwardly projecting shafts of the eye bolts extend through bearings 3| seated in the outer ends of the guide bars 24. A gear 32 is keyed to the shaft 28 and meshes with a pinion 33 on a shaft 34. A hand wheel 35 on the shaft 34 makes it possible to adjust the positions of the eye bolts 29 on the shaft 28 so that the guide bars may be properly spaced to accommodate different widths of material.

The extreme outer ends of the guide bars 24 are chamfered off as at 35 for a purpose which will appear shortly. The operation of the guides of my invention will probably be apparent from what has already been said, but may be explained as follows.

Since the inner ends of the guide bars are pivotally secured to the housings of the vertical rolls, it is easily possible, as shown in Figu 1 l, to design the parts so that when the screw shaft 28 is properly adjusted, the guide bars line up with the pass defined by the vertical rolls as shown on the right hand side of the mill in Figure 1. The guides are thus properly adjusted for directing the material indicated at M into the mill, by the adjustment of the vertical rolls to the proper setting for the particular width being rolled. The guides on the right of Figure 1, therefore, are adjusted for entering a piece of material into the mill.

The guides on the left in Figure 1 are set to receive material emerging from the mill. It will be noted that the vertical rolls I I are spaced apart a greater distance than the width of the material so as to permit free passage thereof toward the table H5. The guides l9, because of the adjustment of the vertical rolls II, define a tapering throat along which the material passes. The chamfering of the outer ends of the guide bars prevents binding of the material therebetween and the latter may be passed entirely beyond the guides if desired, as is desirable after the last pass. After all passes, except the last, of course, the vertical rolls II are adjusted to the proper spacing corresponding to the desired width of the material, and the rolls I2 are spread to a distance such as that between the rolls H as shown in Figure l.

The setting of the rolls l I for the reverse pass lines up the guides and the latter firmly engage the edges of the piece as it moves back intothe mill on reversal of the rolls of the table l5. On this pass, of course, the guides 20 constitute a tapering throat for receiving the piece and, on the next reversal, of course, the vertical rolls I2 and the guides 20 are restored to the illustrated position.

It will be readily apparent from the foregoing description that the invention is characterized by numerous advantages over former types of rolling mill guides. The rollers on the inner faces of the guide bars permit the latter to engage the material firmly without excessive friction. The guides, when once adjusted for a given width of material, are automatically positioned in proper relation by the adjustment of the vertical rolls, so that the rolling operation is not complicated by the presence of the guides. Proper alinement of the guides with the vertical rolls may easily be maintained even after the reduction of the diameter of the latter resulting from wear or redressing, by using shims of the proper thickness between the pivoted arms 22 and the guide bars 24. The holes in the arms 22 traversed by the bolts 23 are preferably elongated slightly in the direction of the path of movement of material through the mill, to permit retraction of the housings l8 to the desired extent.

The installation of the guides in accordance with my invention, in a particular instance, shows that the invention makes possible the rapid rolling of straight plates without difilculty. The scrap due to camber was materially reduced and the product had a' much more uniform gauge. The plate was actually .001" thinner in the center than at the edges, indicating the entire absence of the cambering usually encountered. The production rate is increased because the material is returned to the mill after each pass, at full speed. Since it is firmly engaged by the guides during the entire length of the reverse movement, there is no possibility of improper alinement of the piece with the rolls. The long bearing surface of the guides insures the rolling of straight slabs of true rectangular form.

Although I have illustrated and described herein but a single present preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be recognized that changes in the construction and method described may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Guides for a rolling mill including main housings having horizontal rolls journaled therein, laterally movable housings on opposite sides of said rolls having vertical rolls journaled therein, said guides comprising bars extending outwardly on both sides of the mill, said bars being pivoted adjacent their inner ends to said laterally movable housings, and means providing fixed pivotal bearings for the outer ends of the bars, whereby the innerends of the guides on one side of the mill move with their vertical roll housings independently of the inner ends of the guides on the other side of the mill.

2. In a method of rolling a slab into strip, the steps including advancing a slab toward a reducing roll pass, guiding the slab by edge engagement therewith of substantially parallel guides along a substantial portion of its length, and maintaining it alined with the centerline of the pass by receiving it as it emerges from said rolls in a narrowing guide throat.

3. The method of claim 2 characterized by reversing the relative positions of the guides and moving the material again through the pass in the reverse direction.

ALONZO B. MONTGOMERY. 

